The marble burying test is a useful model of neophobia [1], anxiety [1-7] and obsessive-compulsive behavior [8-11]. It has also been proposed that the test may have predictive validity for the screening of novel antidepressants [12-15], anxiolytics [15, 16] and antipsychotics [17-19]. It is also a measure of the general health and well being of the animals and may be relevant to behavioral perserverance.

This behavior belongs is probably a type of defensive burying typical of rodents [20]. It does not seem that marbles are specifically aversive [6], although making them so by coating them or pairing them with aversive substances does increase burying [21, 22]. This is consistent with the fact that electrified probes are buried more than innocuous ones. Factors such as novelty or hedonic value of the substances to be buried, however, do not seem to be primary modulators in the amount of burying [23].

C57/B mice can be expected to bury roughly 75% of the marbles in a 30 min period, though this may vary with the strain, age and sex [24].

The neuronal circuitry of this behavior has not been clearly elucidated. The hippocampus and septum are likely to be important, since lesions in these areas reduce digging [24-26].